Coastal areas in the EU are usually subjected to various anthropogenic pressures,
with growing conflicts among economic activities. The FP7 project MESMA has
developed a flexible framework to monitor and evaluate Spatially Managed
Areas (SMAs) in both coastal and offshore waters and has tested it in nine case
studies, one of which is a region in western Greece, including the Inner Ionian
Archipelago and the adjacent gulfs. One of the first steps of the approach is to
provide visualization of the main ecosystem components and human activities
/pressures, on the basis of existing spatial information and expert judgment,
addressing also issues related to data uncertainty. GIS tools were used for
mapping ecosystem components, and main human activities. As substantial
overlapping was identified between ecological features and human pressures, an
effort was made to apply the principles of systematic conservation planning
using the decision making tool Marxan, in order to propose scenarios aiming to
contribute to the sustainable management of the area under study. Interaction
with key stakeholders coming from various action arenas revealed the need for
developing and enforcing more coherent and transparent strategies engaging endusers
in the process.
Keywords: marine spatial planning, integrated framework, ecosystem
components, human activities, conflicts.